Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Coolio beats rap; charges dropped in domestic violence case

Lauren Bosworth, Jermaine Dupri, Nicky Hilton, NFL Stars and more at Chateau

David Becker | WireImage

Coolio at Chateau inside Paris on March 18, 2011.

Updated Thursday, Sept. 12, 2013 | 2:15 p.m.

Coolio contended from the beginning that the domestic violence case against him was “bogus,” and today prosecutors seemed to agree.

The Clark County District Attorney’s Office today dropped the misdemeanor domestic battery and coercion charges against the 50-year-old Grammy Award-winning rapper, who is also known as Artis Ivey.

The case in Las Vegas Township Justice Court stemmed from an incident in spring 2013. Coolio was accused of punching a girlfriend of three years in the face during an argument April 1 at their Spring Valley home.

Police were called by healthcare officials when Coolio dropped the woman off at an urgent care clinic for treatment.

The District Attorney's Office released this statement about the case: "Prosecutors determined that they could not prove Mr. Ivey's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt and moved to dismiss the case at today's hearing. This was based upon further investigation and discussion with the victim, who gave conflicting reports of the incident, and independent witnesses who were present at the time and indicated that the victim was the primary aggressor in the incident."

Coolio did not appear in court today. Instead, Ben Nadig, an attorney Coolio originally didn’t want to hire, appeared on his client's behalf.

Coolio told Judge Melanie Tobiasson in July that he didn’t want to shell out the cash for any lawyer because he thought the case was ridiculous and he didn’t think the alleged victim would show for court to press the case.

Tobiasson advised Coolio against acting as his own lawyer, and in August he hired Nadig.

Coolio continues to tour and has also been promoting his 2009 book of recipes, "Cookin’ with Coolio" on Twitter.

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